Royally Forbidden
by FernandaWritesStories
Summary: DISCONTINUED FOR THE MOMENT Tessa has served the Kingdom for a month and she's already in problems with a lot of royals. Prince Will is annoying, arrogant(ridiculously attractive)but her beauty and brains will not allow herself to be fooled by his beautiful blue eyes or his gorgeous smile! However, her biggest problem is keeping a secret that could result in her beheading.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Hey guys! Long time no see! So this story came to me in a dream and now it has evolved into a full story. Some changes I made to the characters is that there is a character named Jasmine- not Jessamine- Jasmine. I know how creative of me. Jessamine is another, separate character don't worry their physical attributes are completely different, so you'll be able to tell the difference. Also there is Downworlders in this story, but no Shadowhunters. Just wanted to make that clear.**

"Tessa! It's time to wake up." I rubbed my eyes to see Sophie standing there holding something behind her back. She was smiling her beautiful kind smile as she handed me the book. I quickly stood up and took the book realizing that I fell asleep while reading.

"How long was I asleep for?"

"It's almost time for the Princess Jasmine's walk at 5, so I would say about 3 hours."

I looked in the mirror to see my light brown hair in a complete mess. My white skin was flushed from the warmth of the bed and the blankets. My dress looked as if a couple of wild dogs had been playing with it, but I didn't pay much attention to it. I wiped my grey eyes, but they were still sleepy and slowly closing until I realized-

"Sophie, you let me sleep for three hours? Charlotte would kill me if she found out that I wasn't cleaning the stables."

"Don't worry. I already cleaned the stables." Sophie said and I sighed from relief.

"Wait, but what about your duties?"

"Oh the king and the princes left to hunt, so there wasn't really any food to take and bring back from the kitchen. They told me to rest, but I saw you sleeping, and I was afraid to wake you."

Sophie's brown hair was in a one sided ponytail. She had a scar that ran across her right cheek. Even though she claimed the scar made her look weak, fragile, ugly, I remember telling her, " _Sophie it makes you strong. If a man can wear his scars from a war feeling proud of himself, then you should wear your scar in pride that you survived whatever man was weak enough to inflict such pain to you. Sophie you are- and always will be- strong."_

"Sophie, you're too kind. I mean seriously I am going to teach you how to properly be rude to someone. But seriously Sophie is there anything that I can do for you, tell me."

"Well actually there is something that you can do for me. For the dinner tonight do you

mind serving the food?" Sophie said, but there was a weird hesitation with her voice.

"Anything Sophie. Seriously I owe you." I said beginning to fix the bed that I was sleeping on to make it look not- slept on.

"Like I said the boys all left to go hunting, and they plan on having a feast…" she paused and I waited for her to tell me the bad part, "The feast will be for all the knights in Idris."

"Oh no, no, no, no, no, no! Please Sophie anything but cleaning after those disgusting knights. Last time, there was a feast for all the knights, I spent _weeks_ trying to clean the dining hall. I can still smell the alcohol and the other _fluids_ from those atrocious knights."

"I will help you. I swear I will, but I promised Thomas that tonight we could go on a walk, and who knows the knights might not be all that bad. Please Tessa. This would mean so much to me if I could spend time with Thomas."

She started at me for a long time with pleading eyes before I said, "Alright fine. I will clean after the _precious_ knights."

"Thank you Tessa. That means so much to me." Sophie said and brought me in for a hug.

It was hard to stay angry with someone who was so nice and caring like Sophie. I knew that this night was important for her especially because Thomas was one of the only men in this entire kingdom who ever looked at Sophie as if she were the most beautiful women in the world. In reality, Sophie was the most precious, but some people choose to only see the scar on her face.

"You're welcome. Let's go before rincess Jessamine throws a fit." I said fixing my hair into a bun, but one piece of my wavy hair stayed in the front reluctantly.

"Aren't you going to change?"

"Why would I do that?"

"Because your dress looks slept in and it makes you look-

"Makes me look like what?"

"Like if you have been doing a very specific and inappropriate activity."

"Sophie, you're such a prude." I said laughing.

"Alright then make fun of me all you want. I am simply trying to warn you." Sophie said raising her hands above her head. "Oh and I almost forgot that prince William needs someone to take care of his room before he gets back."

 _Take care?_

Sophie must have seen my confused look because she grabbed my hand and said, "C'mon I'll show you. See _Prince William_ enjoys _company_ after his hunts and we must prepare his room for the _company_. That man is an absolute disgrace. His father and him are the most disgusting men I have ever met in my life. If only you had met the Queen, she was truly the glue that held the kingdom up. Oh well no time to dwell." Sophie grabbed my hand and pulled me outside the door.

We abruptly stopped when we looked through the big window and witnessed what was about to happen. We were at the lowest level of the castle, and there was a hanging about to happen right outside. There was a woman with a loose rope wrapped around her neck. She was standing in front of everyone in a dirty white dress. She wasn't crying, but I could see the sadness in her eyes. I- instinctively- held onto my angel necklace knowing once the man was finished screaming about her crimes involving magic she would be hanged. This wasn't the first time I had seen this, but I have never actually watched anyone get hanged. I would always walk away right before it happens hoping that someone with royal blood and power would see the injustice and end it. I was about to turn away when I heard a little girl crying in the crowd.

" _Mama, Mami. Te quiero mucho!"_ the girl was probably five years old; the same age I was when my mother was taken from me. Sophie must have seen the tears form in my eyes because she quickly pulled me away from the window, but I still heard the sound of a rope being cut and the little girl screaming and crying. I breathed in deeply and calmed myself down before completely breaking apart in front of Sophie.

I understood why Sophie would be disgusted with the King; he had laws put in place that didn't allow anyone from doing magic or to be in anyway associated with magic. The punishment for doing magic was death. A very poetic death too; I heard from the other servants that you can choose whether to be publicly hanged, beheaded, or burned at the stake. At least the King has some compassion. I have heard about Prince William's reputation with Princess Jasmine how she fell in love with him, but he was only playing with her. Of course believing rumors from the other servants would make me a fool. However, I do believe Sophie when she says that he has definitely broken the hearts of many women, and the way she speaks about him makes me think that she was one of them, but I never ask her. My brother is training to be a knight, but he is only a trainee, so he isn't in the same social class as other knights.

I have only been working as a servant to the castle for a month now, so I still needed some help when finding my way around. I knew where the king slept and I knew where princes Jessamine was from noon to nightfall considering that they practically had me following her and answering to her every need between that time, but I didn't really know where anything else was. Sophie led me up a set of stairs that I knew was going to take us to the main hallway of the kingdom. Sophie and I were giggling up the stairs until we finally took in the smell of a group of males coming from the middle of the hall.

The knights were pouring into the castle, laughing and crashing into one another. I only recognized a couple of them as actual knights who worked in the kingdom day and night. The rest of them probably worked in the borders of the Alicante. It made me wonder if they were here now then who was protecting the borders?

"Oh no what if prince William has already returned?" Sophie said staring in horror at the group of knights that was forming in the hallway. "They could already be in his chambers and we haven't even prepared it for them."

"Then let's not linger. C'mon show me where his bedroom is."

She was holding onto my wrist, and I could feel her body shake with fear as we walked past the knights. I once felt shame because men would stare at my body, but I now realized that I wasn't the one to blame for the lustful stares of others. I looked away from the way the men were staring at us. However, I had already caught the stare of a blonde man. He had a scar on his face, but- unlike Sophie's scar- the scar made him look terrifying. His eyes were a beautiful green, but somehow the way he looked at me made me want to cower in a dark corner and never come out. I couldn't picture exactly what is was about the way that he was looking at me compared to the other men, but he made me feel like a deer and he was the wolf hunting for me.

Once we were far enough away from the man, I heard Sophie let out a big sigh. "Tessa nevermind, I am not going to leave you alone with those men tonight."

"Don't worry Sophie, they can't do anything to me- not with the king there." I said taking a hold of her hand and squeezing it in reassurance. "You deserve to have a night alone with James. I will not be the reason why he doesn't get to see your beautiful face tonight." I said smiling at her once I realized that I had been convincing enough even though the green eyes from the blonde man were still embedded in my brain.

"Ok Tessa thank you. The room is at the end of the hall." We kept walking a lot calmer than before when I realized that Princess Jessamine's bedroom was right across prince Williams.

 _How unfortunate for Prince William if he had to sleep right across the hall from her._ When Sophie began to laugh, I realized that I had said it outloud.

"Tessa! You are so rude." Sophie said giggling and I joined her until we both abruptly stopped at the sight of Princess Jasmine.

The princess's curly black hair was in cornrows braids that formed a high bun. Her eyes were a beautiful dark brown that matched the dark brown color of her skin. Her dress was a simple pink gown, but she looked absolutely radiant. She was considered to be the most beautiful princess in all the kingdoms. Hell, I would even guess that she was considered to be one of the most beautiful women alive. Except that she was a princess and being as beautiful as she was; she was also very arrogant and selfish. She practically has me follow her around just so that her friends can judge my clothes, my hair, and anything else that I happen to not have 100% perfect.

She was leaving her chambers with Charlotte Branwell. Charlotte was in charge of- well she was in charge of everything from what I have noticed. She made sure that food was properly cooked before bringing it to any member of the royal family. She planned out all events in the kingdom including the hunts and battles that happened between the knights. She even helped train some of the knights and always made sure their armor was correctly positioned on their bodies. She did all of this and somehow managed to have a loving husband and children. Her brown hair was tied up in a clean bun at the back of her head and her brown eyes were now looking directly at Sophie and I, and she definitely did not look happy.

"Tessa, by the angel, what are you wearing?" Charlotte questioned and I looked down and took notice of what Sophie had been warning me about. There were a few knots and rips in my dress and my breasts were more visible than what was appropriate.

 _My dress must have ruined when I was sleeping._ I thought to myself and this time I clamped my mouth shut to make sure it didn't slip out.

Sophie quickly came to my rescue, "It was the knights Ms. Branwell. We ran into them on our way here and one of them was messing with Tessa's dress, but we ran out of there before anything else could occur."

Charlotte was looking toward us horrified, but she seemed more horrified at the idea that we were harrassed rather than my very obvious cleavage that was showing. Jessamine stared in horror as well, but her eyes didn't seem sincere about it.

"Are you ladies alright?" Charlotte asked before coming up to me and in very quick movements she fixed my dress to make the rips and knots look like layers that were there on purpose.

"Yes, we are fine. We were just on our way to take care of Prince William's room." Sophie said smiling brilliantly at Charlotte.

"Well you only need one person to do that." Jasmine said scanning the both of us with her dark brown eyes, "Sophie you can join me on my walk and Jessie you can take care of Will's room." I looked behind me until I realized that she was referring to me; I was Jessie.

I looked at Sophie from the corner of my eye and saw her walking away from me and towards Jasmine. Sophie smiled at me reassuringly before the three of them walked away from me, but I still had no idea what _take care_ meant.

Do they want me to clean it? Am I supposed to have food prepared? Should I prepare a bath? What in the angel was Sophie thinking letting me do this by myself?

 _It's fine, you'll figure it out._ I told myself, but I didn't know how much I actually believed that.

When I walked into the Prince's room, it was completely clean. There was no one in the room, and there was also nothing that I could possibly make even more clean. The bed was neat, and there was no sign that someone had been sleeping in it. But if Sophie was the one who had to _take care_ of the room then why was it already so nice and neat. I looked around for any indication of what I needed to do and I saw a glass of water sitting on the table; there was a very small amount of water left, but I was thirsty and I figured no one would mind if I finished it.

I walked up to the table and picked up the glass of water to my lips when I heard a voice say, "What are you doing?"

I jumped and shrieked right before dropping the glass to the floor. The glass didn't completely shatter but a small piece had broken off. Great. I turned around to see a tall white man standing behind me. He was smiling amused at me, but I couldn't concentrate on that because he was a lot different than what I imagined. He had slick black hair that almost covered his blue eyes. He was- by definition- beautiful. Sophie had practically described him as the ugliest person on the planet. She spoke of him the way that she would speak of a dirty criminal that murdered puppies for fun and stole candy from children. I never imagined that I would find him _attractive_. Then again Princess Jasmine was absolutely beautiful with her dark brown skin and her kinky hair, but she has never shown interest for me at all.

Of course Prince William was nothing like Prince Jasmine. Prince William was looking at me with a lot of interest, but it didn't feel real. I avoided his gaze and picked up the glass that had fallen to the ground. I found the piece that had broken off, but I wasn't paying much attention to it, so I immediately cut my hand picking it up. It wasn't a deep cut, but I was definitely bleeding. I felt two hand come up around me and there was Prince William examining my wound. I was sitting on the floor and he was knelt beside me. He began to dab at it with a towel that had been on the table. I flinched away from the pain, but Prince William ignored me and put the towel around my hand and tied it into a tight knot.

He stared at me in concern, but his eyes looked exactly like Jasmine's: insincere. I quickly stood up and walked away from him.

"I am sorry for the mess." I said still looking away.

"You're hand is bleeding and you're worried about some water spilled." He smiled, but it still didn't feel real. "Here let me help you go to our apothecary, Magnus."

He walked up behind me and put his hand on my lower back and his other hand on top of the towel.

"I assure you that my hand injury does not affect my legs in any way." I said pushing against him.

"You don't like me do you?" he said staring in confusion.

"I don't know you. I can't possibly form any opinion about you." I said trying to ignore the stinging that came from my hand.

"Yet it seems you have already formed one."

"Why do you need a servant to clean up your bedroom when your bedroom is already very clean?" The question came out of nowhere and it sounded angry and accusing, but I was merely curious.

"I don't need you to clean my room. I need someone to prepare my room for my lady friend. Which lucky for you could not join me today."

I scoffed knowingly, "Of course she couldn't." I whispered, but I guess not low enough.

"Excuse me? I may have offered my help to you but do not forget that you are a mere servant. I can easily have you hanged for treating me with disrespect."

Now I made sure the anger in my voice was clearly understood, "I only said that I am sorry your lady friend couldn't come and see what a nice gentlemen you are. Afterall, she might have accidentally stepped on your foot and then you would have no choice but to cut off all her toes."

"That's a great idea. How about I cut off your tongue? It doesn't seem to be doing you any good either way." Prince William said and now his expression was not fake, but it was also not very happy.

I tried to hide my anger, but all I could hear was the little girl screaming for her mom. "Like father, like son. At this point your father is probably responsible for the deaths of hundreds, and you will probably be exactly the same. You might as well began with me. I am just as innocent as the people your father murders. If you're going to murder anyone, it should be me!"

"What in the name of the angel is going on here?" I looked towards the door to see a knight standing there. He was asian and his hair and eyes were both a silvery white. He was staring at Will and I in utter shock, but the second he saw the blood dripping from my hand, he quickly came over to me with real concern in his eyes.

"Are you all right?" he said looking into my eyes. He was beautiful not in the same way that Prince William was, but his features were most definitely angelic and innocent.

"Yes, I cut my hand on a piece of glass." I said and I no longer felt as upset as before.

"What's your name?" he said and I realized his concern was genuine.

"Tessa. I mean Theresa Gray. But I don't like being called Theresa. Just call me Tessa." I said feeling like an idiot.

"Well Tessa, I am Jem. C'mon let me take you to Magnus; he will fix you up very quickly."

"Yes, thank you."

"So you'll go to the apothecary with him?" Prince William said looking at me with an eyebrow raised.

"His smile was real." I said before walking out the door with Jem.


	2. Chapter 2

**AU: HI GUYS! Sorry I have been slacking a lot in keeping up, but my job keeps giving me more and more hours. You might notice that I changed from writing in first person to third person. Yeah I just decided that third person would work better. From now on I will be writing in third person. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter...**

 _How dare she?_ Will thought _I was doing absolutely nothing wrong, but she treats me as if I assaulted her? "His smile was real" Was that really the best that she could do. Well, I don't care about her anyways._

After 3 hours of arguing with himself, Will decided to just go down to the Apothecary and see how Tessa was doing. He told himself that he was checking on Jem and making sure she hadn't hurt him, but in reality he wanted to make sure that she was ok too. When Will had walked in his room and saw her, he found her amusing. She practically screamed when she saw him, and he couldn't help but laugh. Especially because she had stared at him with a weird fascination. Fascination was definitely a common reaction Will got from many people. Then I offered her my help and she immediately begins to act hostile. Will knew about the effect he had on people; being a prince has given him many fascinated reactions by different people, but her reaction had been different than anybody else's. It bothered him. She spoke to him as if she was the higher power as if she had the right to question _his_ actions.

Then she goes off with Jem as if he was worthy of her presence and Will was merely a distraction. The second they left he wanted to chase after her and remind her that he was the prince- the one in power. Though he realized that if he did that then she would probably dislike him even more, and for some unknown reason he didn't want that. Will paced back and forth and tried to distract myself but not even the writings of Charles Dickens couldn't distract him.

His feet carried him up and down the stairs while he stayed indecisive of whether he cared to check on the girl or not. Until on one of his trips, Sophie ran into him. Will caught her and prevented her from falling, but the second she saw it was him, she moved away from him

"What is it with women today? That is the second time, I try to help someone and they push me away as if I was a rabid dog."

"Hmm well perhaps you should take a hint and stop putting your grubby little hands on those who wish to not be touched by the _royal prince_."

"Well Sophie I see that you are as pleased with me as always." Will said realizing that Sophie was most likely the source of Tessa's dislike.

Sophie glared at him until her face shined with recognition. "Where is Tessa?"

"She is with Magnus," Sophie looked at him in angry confusion and she must have concluded that Will had something to do with Tessa's visit to the doctor because her face became even angrier.

"What did you do? Did you hurt her?"

"I barely met her, why would I?"

"Because I know you William Herondale. I have known you since you were a child, and I have come to learn that there is not one innocent bone in your body."

"Seriously, Sophie, why the sudden dislike? Has Thomas been treating you well?" he asked looking at her curiously. Sophie has always disliked him for whatever reason, but he has always seen her as family. It felt as if since he has returned from his travels, everyone now hates him. My father had sent me to go to neighboring kingdoms in order to ensure that their allies were still strong. He had been gone for a year or so, but the palace has changed so much since then. There were more knights and just this morning there was a hanging of a witch woman. Perhaps that was why everyone was on edge.

"That is none of your concern. Now come we must go and visit Magnus." Sophie commanded and began walking down the corridor.

"And why must I go?"

He saw Sophie hesitate and then fear flashed in her eyes as if she was remembering something, but she blinked a few times before saying, "Y- You do not have to come, but I sometimes get lost in these hallways is all."

He only nodded his head, and didn't question her any further. For some reason Sophie was afraid of walking by herself in the castle, and she would rather walk with him than alone. Will joined her and they walked down the corridor and to the lowest level of the castle where Magnus would be with Tessa and Jem. While they were walking he noticed the knights who had been invited for the festivity today lounging around, and he also noticed the way they looked at Sophie with interest and how their faces changed when they realized that he was walking alongside her. Instinctively, he walked closer to her almost touching her shoulder.

When they arrived at the door of the apothecary, they heard laughter coming from inside and when Sophie opened the door Will saw Tessa sitting on the bed meant for patients. She was smiling a beautiful smile at Jem, and her hand- that had not been injured- was playfully touching his shoulder. Jem was smiling as well, but he was not looking at Tessa while telling whatever humorous story that was causing them all to react like this. But somehow the second they entered, the entire room went silent, and Will saw Tessa's eyes look directly at him, and she was no longer smiling. She looked confused and of course she did; he should have only dropped off Sophie and left. The _Prince_ has no reasons to be checking up on servant girls who had a small cut on their hands.

Tessa stood up from the bed and slightly bowed her head at me, "Prince William?" She was being polite and considering their fight in his bedroom, he was shocked by it, and he thinks that she was shocked by it too. Though the second she saw-

"Sophie!" Her face lit up and she almost went running towards the poor girl for a hug, but it was as if she realized that he was still staring at her, so she prevented herself.

Of course this was when Will realized that he had been staring at her for quite a bit, so he decided to look over at Magnus who seemed to be enjoying this exchange. "Magnus, I see that you have managed to heal the girl's wound."

Magnus laughed humorlessly at this, "Yes well _the girl_ is very strong."

" _The girl_ is also very clumsy and nearly tripped a dozen times while walking down the stairs." Jem said and Tessa laughed at this.

" _The girl_ is standing right here with a very beautiful, short, and easy to remember name might I add. A name that has been said to all of you at least once." Tessa said pointing to the three of them

"I would much rather call you _girl_ from now on it makes me feel like a powerful person that is too important and snobby to remember names of such servants." Magnus said brushing past Tessa and walking over to Sophie. "The only exception being dear, sweet Sophia. How are you and Thomas doing my dear?"

"We are both quite well. Thomas is such a perfect gentlemen. Thank you for asking Magnus."

"How come when I asked you, you claimed that it was none of my business?"

"Because it wasn't. Anyways onto more important things, Tessa what happened to your hand?" Sophie said walking up to Tessa grabbing her hand very carefully.

"It was all my fault Sophie. I was drinking a glass of water and I dropped it on the floor and when I attempted to clean up the mess, I cut myself like an idiot." Sophie's eyes widened and she opened her mouth, but Tessa interrupted her, "I know Sophie, it will never happen again plus Jem was there and he helped me."

"I was there also- might I add." Will said realizing that he sounded like a brat.

"You may not add because all you did was argue with me and make a fuss." Tessa said and he tried to hide his smile as he saw her posture change immediately from being happy and excited to strong and defensive.

"Do not pretend that you weren't causing any problems yourself." Will said slightly teasing, but his smile only seemed to get her more angry.

"I wasn't the one acting like a spoiled brat, and we both know that your intention was not to be helpful." Tessa had stopped talking and was now looking at something else that had been in the room. It was a picture of a mother and a child hugging. He looked back at Tessa and saw that her face had changed and she looked sad almost as if she wanted to cry. Then her face looked back at him and that sadness turned into anger. "To you it wouldn't have mattered if I was bleeding out and moments away from dying as long as the entire Kingdom would hear about how courageous _Prince William Herondale_ was while trying to save the life of the _poor and helpless damsel._ " To his horror a small chuckle escaped her lips. "They wouldn't even call me a damsel; I would just be the _simple servant_." There was a moment of silence and in that moment Will could see a flash of guilt and regret spread on her face, but it went away almost immediately.

He had no idea what he had done to cause this, but he was definitely not going to simply stand there as she talking to him like that. "I am sorry you feel that way. Actually I am not sorry because you are right You are most certainly correct Tessa. I am the courageous Prince William Herondale and you are merely a servant. If you were to die in a crowded room with the entire court present to witness your death, not a single head would turn and no tears would be shed. Because servants and the like are not worthy of such treatments and they will never be."

"You are such a-

"Enough! Both of you!" Will turned to see Sophie looking at both of them with wide eyes and she was breathing as if she had been running for hours, "Prince William, I sincerely apologize for the way that you have been spoken to. And Tessa, Will is an idiot who has been raised to believe that men deserve to have power, and I am sorry that you and him have not gotten along well, but seriously how is it possible that you both speak to each other with such malice." Both Tessa and Will opened our mouths as if to respond, but Sophie cut them off before they could, "NO! I think you both have said enough. James please escort Prince William to his room or truly it does not matter where you take him as long as he and Tessa are not in each others proximity."

"Will do, Sophie. Will do." Jem said grabbing Will's arm and leading him out of the room. The door shut almost immediately after they left but not before he saw the tears that were forming in Tessa's eyes.

* * *

"I am sorry Sophie. I am so sorry." Tessa said before completely breaking down.

Sophie quickly wrapped her arms around Tessa tightly and being careful to not add pressure to her hand, "Oh Tessa, you have nothing to apologize for. This is my fault for talking so low of Will. I was the one to put those ideas into your head about how terrible he is. I shouldn't have talked about him like that."

"Sophie, it wasn't just what you said. It was everything." she said raising her head from Sophie's embrace. "The woman who had been accused of practicing magic. I could hear her child in the crowds crying out for their mother, but it didn't even matter. It didn't matter if the child was going to witness the death of their own mother because the King has decided that being in anyway related to magic is a crime punishable by death. Sophie when I saw Will standing there smiling at me as if everything to him is funny, I don't know what happened. I just couldn't stand it. All I kept on hearing is the child screaming and crying."

"Tessa… Will is not responsible for that. He doesn't think the same way as his father. Will is arrogant, yes, and he can be truly snobbish sometimes, and he makes me want to pull out my own hair-" Sophie said shaking her head and closed her eyes while inhaling and once she opened her eyes she exhaled, "What I mean is that Will does not believe that magic is a crime. He probably isn't too keen on it, but I have known Will all my life and he is not cruel enough to murder someone only because they practice magic."

"I owe him an apology, don't I?"

Sophie looked at her carefully and wiped the tears from her eyes before she nodded slowly, "It didn't always used to be like this in the Kingdom. The King did not always enforce the law of magic so powerfully but recently he has grown paranoid. I am not sure why or what he could possibly be afraid of, but he has been acting stranger this past year than I have ever seen in the entire time that I have lived at court."

"She's right the king has always been weary when it concerned downworlders, but recently he has grown more afraid." Magnus said and Tessa had almost forgotten that he was in the room, which is shocking considering how effervescent his outfit was. He wasn't dressed like a regular apothecary would dress. He was wearing a regular black dress shirt, but the jacket was covered in a million colors, and it fit him well. He didn't look out of place, but he definitely stood out.

"Why? Why does he fear the downworld so much?" Tessa asked and she was more calm now; the tears in her eyes were now dry and she wasn't shivering as she had been before.

"His wife and his eldest daughter were murdered because of magical beings, but this was years ago, and it wasn't until Prince William had left the kingdom that he truly began to punish those who were associated with downworlders." Magnus said and he was eyeing her curiously. For a split second, Tessa saw his eyes flash and all of a sudden they were no longer human- they were cat like. She blinked a few times and sure enough they went back to their original green- brown color. He winked at her and she was looking at him with her mouth hanging open.

 _Magnus Bane- the main apothecary for the King- one of his most trusted advisors- was a downworlder._

"Tessa what's wrong? Are you ok? Does your hand hurt?" Sophie looked at her worried then she noticed that she was staring at Magnus and Magnus staring back at her. Sophie's face lit up with recognition. "Magnus is a warlock. You didn't know?"

"No, I didn't know that the man trusted to keep the King healthy was also one of the most hated creatures in all the land. They would behead you if they ever found out, why- why even risk it?" she said staring at Magnus in amazement.

"I could ask you the same thing." Magnus said walking over to her and when he was standing directly in front of her he put his hand on her jaw and turned her head side to side observing her. "At first, I wasn't sure, but after observation- and I also took some of your blood while I was healing you to test it- I realized that you my dear are most definitely a warlock. Or some sort of variation of one."

"Yeah I wouldn't say warlock. I can't use magic or anything, but I can do something else." she said looking down at her hands shyly.

"Tessa, you're a warlock! And you didn't tell me!?" Sophie asked incredulously.

"Yes well I wasn't really sure who to trust, but I guess if I could trust anyone with this it would be you guys." she said looking up at Sophie with a apologetic smile on her face.

"Wait so if you can't use magic then what can you do?" Sophie asked looking at her curiously.

"It might be better if I showed you." Tessa stood up and walked over to a chair that was right next to the bed where Jem had left a handkerchief that he had used to hold on Tessa's bleeding hand. She picked it up and closed her yes concentrating really hard on what she wanted to do. The second she felt the magic flow through her, she knew that it was working. It didn't really hurt, but the magic always felt weird whenever she used it. She opened her eyes to see Magnus and Sophie staring at her in a horror amazement type way. Then all of a sudden she noticed the person standing at the door looking at her in the exact same way Magnus and Sophie had, and she realized that they had seen her use her magic.

* * *

Jem dragged Will out of the room and he was surprisingly complacent. He was looking at the stonewalls, but Jem knew that he wasn't studying the ancient architecture of the castle. His face looked as if it was struggling to find an emotion. Sometimes Jem would see anger and arrogance in his eyes and other times he would see sadness and remorse.

Jem had been surprised to see Sophie be the one to end their fight considering that Sophie has never been a fan of Will, but it was a good thing that she did. They were both being very cruel towards each other.

"Jem, do you think she is right?"

"Tessa?"

"Yes, Tessa."

"I think that you can't blame yourself for being born a royal, but you can control the words that come out of your mouth. I don't understand you Will. Why go looking for the girl if your encounter hadn't been pleasant?"

"I wanted to make sure she was alright." Will said casually.

"Why did you care?" Jem said looking at Will with an eyebrow raised.

"Well-" Will paused and they were already at the staircases that would reach the main court, "She had been bleeding- quite a lot- and there's nothing wrong with me checking on her." Will said too quickly.

Jem felt a laugh began to escape his lips and immediately Will went from looking flustered to very annoyed. He crossed his arms over his chest and his lips were pouted which only made him laugh harder.

"I am glad that you find me funny perhaps I should tell all your past lovers that you have slept hugging a horse shaped pillow since you were three and you continue to do it."

"Now, now Will don't act petty. I am only laughing because you are acting weird and something tells me that it has everything to do with the brown haired beauty."

"Magnus's hair is more black, but there is definitely something about him that is alluring."

"Be as deflective as you want to be, but I saw the way you looked at her. You thought she was beautiful."

"Average- at most."

"Will there is no shame in admitting you thought someone in this kingdom- besides yourself- is beautiful. Will I have known you since we were children, and you looked at Tessa the same way you looked at Jasmine. Hell, the same way you looked at me."

Will looked genuinely confused, "Oh really? And how is that?"

"Intrigue. When you were 11 and Jasmine had just recently moved into the castle, you wanted to learn all her interests so that you could impress her. Of course you're both older now and Jasmine was no fool to fall for your silly tricks, but you have both developed a good friendship. Even the first time you saw me all by myself with no family to take me in, you took me back to the castle and when your father asked you why you brought me here you had said-

"He needs a bath, new clothes, and food. The boy with silver hair and silver eyes will not be denied this." Will said a smile appearing on his face that matched Jems.

Jem hadn't been surprised that Will remembered it; Jem knew that he could never forget the events that had occured that day.

"Fine then Jem, the girl intrigues me. She knows I am a prince, yet she speaks to me as if my royal blood is not important. She is also very rude to me and her eyes are also a very weird shade of grey." Will stopped himself knowing that he sounded ridiculous.

"Don't worry Will I will be very sure to inform Tessa about the crush you're beginning to develop on her." Jem said smiling at him teasingly.

"Yes well don't think I didn't notice how you immediately offered to help Tessa. Offering her your handkerchief to cover her wound how chivalrous of you."

"Yes well unlike you I am not in denial when it concerns who I am attracted to. Wait here, I need to get my handkerchief back."

Jem walked away from Will knowing that he was smiling like an idiot. It was moments like this that he enjoyed the most. Moments that he could spend with William- his friend and not William- the royal prince- the heir to the throne.

Jem was at the door, but there was no sound coming from inside the room. When he opened the door, he realized why. Tessa was holding the handkerchief to her chest with her eyes closed. There was a moment where nothing happened until Tessa's body began to change. Her hair was becoming shorter and more silver? Her skin was a few shades browner and her entire bone structure had changed to match Jem's. Tessa was now the exact replica of Jem. She only grew a few more centimeters considering that Jem was not much taller than Tessa.

Now Tessa had opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was Jem. It was one of the weirdest things he had ever experienced. He was seeing himself reflected but not in a mirror- in a person.

"Tessa, how did you-

Before he could finish his question, he heard Magnus whisper something incomprehensible in his ear and Jem felt himself losing consciousness.

 **AU: I am hopefully not going to be working so many days, so I will be updating more frequently. I hope you guys are enjoying this story, and if you are please let me know. IF you aren't then I would love to hear your constructive criticism. Thank you guys for the support Next chapter will be up soon.**

 **P.S.**

 **I love the reviews that you guys gave me they really do encourage me to write. Thank you so much for reviewing!**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: I haven't posted a chapter in a really long time, and I really hope that this extra long chapter makes up for it. Thank you guys!**

 **Enjoy...**

"Magnus! Did you just kill Jem?!"

"What?! Of course not, he is fine. He'll just be unconscious for a few hours." After Magnus whispered the spell into Jem's ear, Jem almost immediately fainted, but Magnus had gently set him down on the floor before he could hurt himself.

"Well what are we supposed to do now?" Sophie said sounding surprisingly relaxed despite the fact that her hands were shaking.

"We'll hide Jem's body until he comes to. I'll use an amnesia potion to make sure he doesn't remember seeing Tessa shapeshift. Then everything will be fine." Magnus looked around the room observingly, "All we need to do now is find a place to hide him. As long as no one comes looking for him, we'll be fine-

As if on cue, we heard someone from outside yelling, "Jem? Jem, what is taking you so long?"

"Or someone will discover us and we'll all lose our head." Magnus said with fear in his voice.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no." Sophie said now sounding more panicked, "What are we going to do?" Her hands were on her forehead and she was looking down at Jem. All of a sudden, her head popped up and she looked at Tessa eyes wide with recognition. "Tessa, take off your dress!"

"What- Sophie what would that help-

Then Tessa began to realize that she was still in Jem's form. Jem's form in a servants dress, but still Jem.

"Sophie, you're brilliant- wait we have to be quick." Tessa quickly began to take off her dress and realized about halfway that Sophie was staring at Tessa horrified while Magnus was looking at her with flirtatious intrigue. "What about quick did you not understand?"

"Jem? Are you still in here? It's been forever, what are you doing in there?" Will's voice was now right next to the door and the door was now slowly opening.

Tessa and Sophie looked at eachother alarmed, and before Will could see the mess that was slowly worsening in the room, Sophie ran to the door and opened it so that the only thing visible to Will was Sophie's peaking head.

"Hi, Will, how are you?"

"Sophie, what are you doing?"

"Oh me? Nothing. How about you Will? How have you been, we have never really been close? I really don't know much about you. Tell me Will, tell me everything." Sophie said slowly opening the door so that she could force her body through without Will seeing anything.

Tessa was now only in her undergarments and she was holding her dress as she ran to Jem's body and began to take off his clothes. Although Jem was very muscular, he was also very skinny. No surprise that Tessa hadn't felt the dress get too much tighter around her when she transformed into Jem. Once she took off the majority of his clothes, Tessa was trying her hardest to put on the clothes as quickly as possible, but taking the clothes off of an unconscious man is most definitely not easy. Magnus was trying to tug them off while Tessa was finishing the last buttons on Jem's dress shirt.

Both of their heads turned at the sound of the door opening, "Sophie this is ridiculous. Why don't you just let me go inside?" Will said and Tessa could hear how aggravated he really was.

"Because I need to tell you something, Will. It is very important. I just don't know how to say it." Sophie's sounded as if she was out of breath and as if she was about to start crying or at least start to fake cry.

"Alright well what is it? You're acting very peculiar."

"It's about… Thomas!"

"What about him?"

"I think that he might be- in love with another woman?"

"What? Sophie that's ridiculous." Will said and the door shut while Will and Sophie continued to talk about Sophie's love life.

"We have to give her credit for her ability to make things up on the spot." Magnus said and began to work on Jem's pants again, "Uhh why won't they come off? I have more than enough experience of undressing men and women, why is this so difficult." He said right before his pants came off.

Tessa looked at Magnus incredulously, and she had to bite her lip to stop herself from laughing, "Oh stop it. I only meant that as a professional doctor many times I have to take off people's clothes in order to examine their wounds."

"Don't worry Magnus, I understand. Warlocks have needs to." Tessa said before taking the pants and putting them on.

"Great now all we have to do is hide an 150 pound man somewhere in this room."

"We could put him in the closet?" Tessa offered.

Magnus laughed dryly, "Yes that would be quite poetic."

Tessa was confused by this, but she shaked off the question in her head and helped Magnus pick up James's body Jem was quite strong and she could feel it as she carried his body with little effort and gently placed his body in the closet. Magnus shut the door, and they both stared at the closet almost expecting Jem's body to fall out of it, but it didn't happen and they both sighed.

The second the door opened, it was like the relief filled carpet they had been standing on was swept under them. Which wasn't too inaccurate considering that Tessa tripped almost the second Will came through that door.

"Sophie, Thomas is not in love with Jasmine for the last time- Jem! There you are. Why didn't you come out?"

Tessa froze unable to answer him. Usually Tessa would instantly hear the voices of the person she was impersonating in her head, but this time she had no voice probably because Jem was unconscious. Hopefully it wouldn't last too long.

"I-I- I was-

"He was talking to me. Or rather I was blabbing on and on to him. I do apologize Jem. You ask me one question about the potions, and I begin telling you the ingredient to every last potion that I own." Magnus said smiling rather confidently. "How fortunate that Jem is such a fine man. I do really appreciate your company." Now Magnus winked at Tessa, and she could feel herself blushing.

Will had an eyebrow raised at his best friend, and he was looking back and forth from Magnus to Jem with a suspicious smile. "Well now that, _that_ has been settled. Come Jem we must go and prepare for the dinner."

"The dinner!" Sophie screamed alarming everyone in the room. Magnus looked as if he was trying to hold in a laugh and Will turned to Sophie with a confused expression. Sophie ignored the both of them and looked at Tessa reminding her that she too needed to prepare for the dinner.

"Prince William- I mean just Will," Tessa said correcting herself but only confusing Will even more. She wasn't sure what to tell him either way, but she had to get Will to leave. Slowly she took a deep breath prepared to do whatever it took. "I-

 _Tell him you feel sick_. It was Jem's voice. Her abilities must have found a voice in his head even though he was still unconscious.

"I feel sick." Tessa said and Will's eyes were full of understanding. "If it's alright with you, I'd like to stay with Magnus so that he can observe me. I seem to be getting a rather atrocious headache." The words came out of Tessa's mouth before she could even think of a response, but it was exactly what Will needed to hear.

"Alright then Jem, I will check on you after the dinner." Will said nodding at Tessa before leaving.

Tessa let out a breath of air along with Sophie and Magnus.

"You two are terrible liars." Magnus said rubbing his forehead. "Tessa- at least- seemed to improve. But Sophie are you insane?"

"I didn't know what to say. I couldn't think of anything else to say." Sophie said hopelessly defending herself.

"Perhaps don't accuse your fiance of being madly in love with an Ethiopian Princess."

"Yes well next time don't send me out to distract the Prince of Alicante."

"Wait what are we going to do about Jem?" Tessa asked. "I couldn't possibly be Jem for the rest of my life, and we can't let Jem out while he knows that I am a warlock." Tessa thought about it for a little bit, "Although pretending to be Jem wouldn't be the worst thing. His clothes are very comfortable. Undressing is the most relieving feeling in the world." Magnus chuckled at this and Tessa immediately responded, "And by that I mean by myself with no one else's assistance." She rolled her eyes at him and looked around the room hoping to think of some resolution.

Jem didn't look like the kind to support the murder of innocents but who knew? Magic is something that has been banned for years now. He could have grown up believing that magic is the equivalent to evil. Jem looked nice and sweet, but would he have acted the same way if he knew what Tessa was?

"Jem wouldn't tell anyone." Sophie said sounding certain. "He isn't like that. If we talked to him, he would listen."

"That may be true, but it's too much of a risk to simply allow him to walk away."

"Magnus, we couldn't possibly kill him?" Sophie said in horror.

"Why is it that you assume that I would just kill him? I am not that cruel. I know a way to take away his memories. Once he wakes up, I'll give him one of my special teas and it'll slowly make him forget whatever I want him to forget."

"Slowly? How long will it take?" Tessa asked.

"Perhaps a day or two." Magnus said walking away from them and going back to the closet where they had originally left Jem.

He opened the closet, and Jem's unconscious body begins to fall, but Magnus quickly sprinkles some sort of magic that caused him to float horizontally. He flicks his fingers towards the table and Jem's body is magically carried over to the table and is brutally set down causing Jem to hit his head against the table making Sophie and Tessa jump from the noise.

"Magnus!" Sophie and Tessa said in unison.

"Oh please he is fine. See he is waking up already." Both girls turned to look and it was true Jem's eyes were fluttering open and his hand was moving to touch his head where he hit the table.

"What's going on?" Jem murmured so softly she barely heard him.

No one said a word; everyone simply watched as Jem slowly begin to sit up and his vision was slowly coming into focus on the three of them. His eyes skimmed over Magnus then Tessa then Sophie, but he did a double take at Tessa.

Tessa unconsciously began to grab the angel necklace trying to gain comfort from it because Jem's face made her feel as if she had grown a second head or a third eye.

"What in the name of-" he stopped realizing something, "Tessa? Is that you? How did you- It's impossible- you- your- you're me?"

"No, not exactly. I can just make myself look like you, but technically," Tessa grasped her necklace harder and begin to concentrate remembering the way that her hair looked- the way that her body was shaped and slowly she felt the transformation back to herself, "this is me."

"But then that would mean that you use magic? Tessa, if the king finds out-

"Then he'll have to kill us both, James." Magnus was the one who spoke. He shot his cat eyes at Jem confidence written all over them. "Of course the king won't be killing anyone if you don't tell him."

Jem's face was full of astonishment, "But that's impossible. Magnus, you're the king's most trusted doctor. You supply the entire kingdom with healing herbs and medicines when the king finds out that you've been lying to him, he won't just kill you; he'll-

"He'll have me displayed in the court so the children can each take turns "pinning the dagger in the warlock. If you pin him in the eye, you get to keep it."

"Magnus this is not a joke." Jem said, but he wasn't angry. His eyes were glancing back and forth from Magnus to Tessa and she saw it then that he was worried for them.

"I don't think it's funny either James. The idea that hundreds upon thousands of innocents are being brutally murdered is not even the slightest bit of humorous to me."

"Jem, we don't want anyone to get hurt. We aren't going to hurt anyone ever." Tessa's eyes were pleading. The desperateness in her voice was real and she needed Jem to see that.

Jem wasn't looking at her though, his hands were holding his forehead, and she noticed that there was a weird glowing light surrounding them, but she told herself that it was just the light in the room. Finally, Jem looked at her and she knew that he didn't need to say anything for her to know that he trusted her.

"I won't tell anyone. I swear on everything that your secret is safe with me."

"Thank you Jem." she said and the weight on her shoulders seemed to have been lifted.

"You can't leave." Magnus said, but he wasn't looking at Jem; he was looking down at his glowing hands.

Tessa looked at Magnus confused, but it was Sophie who spoke "Why not? He won't tell anyone, Magnus. I know he won't."

"It's not that." Magnus looked away from Jem long enough to look at Sophie, "Humans are fragile and their bodies were not meant to take in magic. They can't handle it; they'll need to get rid of the magic. Except that a human body doesn't know how to do that. If I let Jem leave this room the simple magic that I used to keep him unconscious and to carry him over to the table could very easily burn him up."

"What do you mean 'burn him up'?" Sophie said looking anxious.

"Jem could flood the entire kingdom if he doesn't find a way of releasing the magic from his system." Tessa said- she knew from experience.

Her brother- Nate- had once brought home flowers that he said grew in magical soil. Tessa had been a child, and she thought that it was the most beautiful thing a brother could bring for his sister. She put the flowers in a vase full of water, but there had been a drought, and Nate and her had been so thirsty so they drank the water from the vase. The next morning, Nate woke up sicker than he had ever been. He kept on throwing up and his nose was bleeding badly, but he wouldn't get better. It was like his body was trying to get rid of something from the inside, but it didn't know how until one day Tessa woke up in her bed and it was floating over water. Her entire room had been covered in at least 12 inches worth of water. Nate said that all he did was walk and the water simply kept on appearing after each foot step more and more each time. After that, Nate had felt much better, but to a six year old Tessa Gray, she had only thought of it as an entire day of fun. Where her and her brother splashed around in their house until at some point the water begin to decrease and they were left with soggy, wet clothes and a lot of puddles in the house that they had to explain to their auntie.

Except that drinking some magical water was different than actually having a powerful warlock use magic on you.

"He probably wouldn't be able to flood the entire kingdom. Maybe he could set a couple of rooms on fire, but floods are more of a Noah's Arc type of situation." Magnus said glancing at Tessa curiously.

"So I am a prisoner until I release the magic inside of me? And how long is that supposed to take?"

"Well with my help, you'll be back to your regular boring self in a couple of days. But seriously though you cannot leave this room for even a second. If someone were to just see your hands, you'd be unequivocally signing your own death certificate."

"Prince William already thinks you're feeling sick, so we don't have to worry about lying to him." Sophie said sounding relieved at the idea of not having to make up any more lies.

Jem looked confused for a second then his eyes looked at Tessa and his eyes smiled with understanding. She turned red at his eyes scanning the clothes on her body. His clothes were oversized and they covered every inch of her body unlike the servant dresses that still showed some skin. Also unlike the dresses, Jem's clothes were very comfortable.

"And enough of that. Tessa and Sophie no need to stay here any longer. If I have to fix Jem, I am going to need some peace and quiet." With that, Sophie and Tessa left not before sneaking another glance at Jem who now had a glow surrounding him completely.

* * *

Tessa was almost done setting up the table. She and Sophie had had to go back to the room to change their clothes. There were different dresses that you were meant to wear for different occasions. For dinner, she had to wear a more elegant dress which just meant that she had to wear an actual corset under her clothes and the dress couldn't be dirty or ripped, but it still identified her as a servant. Your hair was also supposed to show elegance, so Sophie had made two braids that met in the back of her head, and left Tessa's naturally wavy hair in her back, so it would not get in her way as she worked.

Sophie had already left to spend time with Thomas, but she had been so helpful before with setting up decorations, plates, and perfectly aligned chairs. Now all that was left was placing the folded cloth napkins for each chair. She began to hum to herself as she folded the napkins when she heard a whistle from behind her.

At first, she didn't believe that it would be for her at all. She stayed focused on her napkins and continued to fold them as if she had heard nothing. Then his shadow loomed behind her. The hair on her arms raised, but she ignored the feeling and tried to continue with her task. Then, his grubby hands touched the tips of her hair sending tiny, creepy tickles up her spine. Tessa was no longer folding napkins; she was frozen. She stopped breathing completely and she prayed for anything to end this moment. Anything.

She couldn't have been more glad that anything meant someone simply calling her name. "Servant girl, can you please come here for a moment?" Well not exactly her name, but she knew who they were talking about. Princess Jasmine was standing by the door holding a beautiful necklace with a frown on her face.

"Yes princess. I am going." Tessa almost went running to her not turning to look for a second who had been the man who had been standing too close to her.

Jasmine grabbed onto Tessa's wrist- when she was close enough- and dragged her away from the dining hall and turned a corner before stopping and looking at Tessa wearily. Jasmine was really beautiful there was no denying that, but Jasmine was also a princess and when you're a princess you expect your servants to be at your service at all times. Except that the concerned looked on Jasmine's face did not make her feel like a servant; it made her feel like if Jasmine and her were friends for years.

"Tessa, please tell me that Sophie is going to help you serve for the dinner." Jasmine said and Tessa blinked a couple of times at hearing her name out of her mouth.

"Sophie is busy tonight, but there will be other servants. I am just in charge of refilling the drinks. " she said and Jasmine's dark brown eyes were filled with worry again.

Jasmine held up the necklace, "Can you help me get this on?" Tessa took the necklace carefully and went behind Jasmine and begin to put the necklace on her as Jasmine lifted her hair out of Tessa's way. "The king asked me to wear it tonight, and how could I refuse? I have never enjoyed wearing long necklaces; the chains always got stuck in my hair. It's ridiculous really." Jasmine had never talked to Tessa like this, and she admitted that she enjoyed being treated like this.

After she got the necklace on, Jasmine looked at Tessa, her eyes serious, "Stay close to me the entire time Tessa. That is a direct order." Jasmine said in a commanding way that left her with no room for argument.

"Ok, I will." Tessa said and then Jasmine was walking back to the dining room expecting Tessa to follow her.

There was more knights standing around talking along and more royals, but sje didn't recognize anyone. If Sophie was here, she would tell her the names of all the royals and tell her about their family. Tessa noticed that Sophie was trusted amongst the royals; they talked to her about their families and confided in her more than any other servants. She didn't expect Jasmine to do the same for her; she didn't expect her to talk to Tessa at all, but she would listen to her and not stray too far from her.

The man from before was laughing loudly within his group of knight. His blonde hair was curly and long enough to cover his ears, and his green eyes were still beautiful, but they weren't looking at her right now. They were looking at another girl. She had white skin, black hair, and blue eyes that all reminded her of Will. Her dress was various shades of blues and greens, and her hair was in a high bun with a tiny tiara in front of it. She was princess Cecily. According to Sophie, she didn't really like her father much, and Tessa could understand why.

When he walked in the room, automatically there was silence. The laughing and conversations ceased, and everyone turned to look at the king. He looked a lot like Will and Cecily, but his appearance was as far as it would go. His face was serious and the way he stood was menacing. Is this what a king was supposed to be like all the time? She couldn't imagine Will that way. Although, she had definitely seen his aggressive side, Will was more careless. Tessa was reminded of the flirty smile he had given her when he had first seen her. She couldn't imagine the king ever looking so playful about anything.

Even now Will was standing there in elegant clothes and a smaller crown than the king's on his head with a mostly emotionless expression on his face, but his eyes looked amused. Then she realized that his blue eyes were staring at her. Tessa remembered how she had yelled at him and accused him of being like his father and looked away ashamed.

"Please everyone take your seats." King Herondale crossed the room, and once he took his seat at the head everyone else took theirs. Tessa was surprised that everyone knew where they needed to sit. Will on the right side of the king with Jasmine across from him and Cecily was next to her. Tessa sneaked a glance at the blonde knight and he was staring at her again, but he was smiling kindly and Tessa would have believed that he didn't mean anything by it, but his eyes began to scan her body. She shivered and tried to ignore the tension in her bones, but he stayed staring at her.

The servants began to serve the food, and Tessa had to wait for each one to begin serving the drinks. She started with the king, but he gave no acknowledgement to her at all, and Tessa felt relieved.

When the king began to speak, he was not giving an encouraging speech or a regular toast. Instead he decided to remind everyone about the real danger, "20 years ago, there was a massive war between us and the supernatural creatures. Innocent women and children were murdered brutally on the street in the comfort of their homes. Soldiers were massacred and ripped apart. Now, we celebrate 18 years of freedom from those creatures. 18 years where humans have stayed the superior species. Everyone raise their glass," Tessa watched horrified as everyone in the room raised their glasses, "To another year of peace and to the death of the supernaturals."

They all drank, and some of the soldiers even shouted in celebration. Great. If only they knew that the people serving their drinks, cleaning their horses, giving them their medicine were the same ones they killed out of fear. Stupid. Ignorant. Fear. Tessa ignored the shivers that went up and down her spine.

During the dinner, Tessa managed to avoid serving the blonde knight, and she stayed on the side where Jasmine was. The other servant who was serving drink was a boy, and the knight did not seem to be interested in him. She could still tell that he would stare at her every once in a while, but she ignored him. Tessa hated to admit it, but she kept on finding herself staring at Will.

He was lost in conversation with his sister, and she could see how they looked different. Cecily didn't have the same shade of blue eyes. Her eyes were bright and closer to the color of the sky during a bright sunny day while Will's eyes were a dark blue like the night sky. Cecily's hair wasn't exactly black, but it was a very dark brown and Will's hair was black, and Tessa couldn't imagine it being darker.

"Tessa please do try your hardest from gawking at the prince and the princess." it was Jasmine who spoke, and Tessa made sure that no one else had heard She was smiling at Tessa, and Tessa's face went red.

"I was simply staring at their drinks and making sure that they were full."

"Of course you were."

At this time, everyone was standing in the area of the castle where they held festivities. There was music but no one was actually dancing. Sophie would have probably explained why, but Tessa was left so simply speculate.

"They aren't dancing because it's tradition that the first couple be the king and whichever women he chooses." Tessa sprang up a little and the shivers up her spine were back, but once she looked back and saw his blue eyes staring at her, she calmed down. Plus, she had no reason to fear, Princess Jasmine had ensured that Tessa was always within five feet of her. No one would even look at Tessa if the beautiful Princess Jasmine was within a mile of her.

"Prince William you frightened me." Tessa sighed.

"That was definitely not my intention Tessa, I do apologize." Tessa smiled at him and frowned when she remembered that she was the one who should be apologizing not him.

"Prince William, I-" Tessa was stopped short when she saw at the corner of her eye the blonde knight approaching them.

"Your highness, your father wishes to speak to you."

Prince William wasn't looking at him when he answered, "Tell him that I'll be there in just a moment."

"You have no need to worry, my prince, I will keep the girl company." The blonde guard spoke so calmly; his voice did not show the man who had come up behind her and touched her hair in the dining room.

"There will be no need for that Federick," Jasmine was now standing next to Tessa almost as if she was trying to hide her from him, "I feel very tired and would like to sleep. The servant girl will help prepare me for bed." Tessa's shoulders loosened and the tension building insider her was disappearing. She turned around to follow Jasmine, but the moment she turned around, she hit a man spilling a bit of wine onto his clothes. He had black hair, and blue eyes that shined brighter with the crown that he wore on his head. Tessa had just spilled wine on the king.

 **AN: Seriously, thank you for the reviews and the favorites and follows, I really do appreciate it. Tell me what you guys think- do you hate it, love it, ehhh it? I would really love to know and I totally love hearing all types of critiques! Again thanks and I'll be posting the next chapter soon...**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: I know it's been a while. But I am updating now, and I will update more frequently. Anyways you know the drill.**

 _A few hours ago_

"Magnus, what are you doing?" Jem had only been alone with Magnus for a few seconds, but Magnus was staring at him intently. Jem was only wearing pants because Tessa hadn't wanted to change in front of him which he didn't mind because he was sweating now and a lot.

"What do you think of Tessa?"

Jem was surprised by this. The girl had only left a few seconds ago, and it was possible that she was still outside capable of hearing Magnus's rude words. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, what do you think of her? Do you find her beautiful? Annoying? Intriguing? Would you invite her to a romantic restaurant where she will kiss you at the end of the night? Or would you take her to the pigs and show her what you really think of her?"

"I could never be so rude as to take her to the pigs!"

"So then you choose the romantic dinner."

"I did not say that either."

"You did not have to. Your eyes spoke a lot more than your mouth did. Although, your mouth did also do a lot of talking. So tell my Jem what do you think of the _brown haired beauty?_ Also Will is right, my hair is closer to black." Magnus said and he smirked at Jem, but Jem only stared at him mouth wide open.

"How could you have possibly heard that?"

"Oh I went inside of your head and just happened to glance at a few memories here and there." Jem could now see his glow more clearly and he felt as if his body were on fire, but the fire wasn't burning him. Magnus must have noticed it too because he automatically said, "Oh calm down. The only reason I went in your head was to make sure that you weren't planning on revealing our secrets. I needed to make sure that you were a sincere person at heart. And I found my answer. You're far more sincere and trusting for a knight who works alongside the prince and the king. If you want to survive, you're going to want to lose some of that."

"Would you rather I be more like the king? Not trusting anyone who even utters the word magic?" Jem now felt himself sweating far more than before.

 _It had not been this hot before._ Jem thought to himself.

"No, the king would be an extreme. Perhaps you should be more like Will. Trusting, but on guard."

"Will is going to be a king someday. I will never have to live up to such high expectations."

"When Will is king who do you think he will choose to be right beside him throughout everything?" Magnus did not wait for an answer, "He will choose the only person in this kingdom that he trusts more than anything else in this entire world."

"Perhaps, but only if I live long enough." Jem said looking downwards at his feet and he saw the glow calm.

"Oh please do not be so arrogant. I was obviously speaking of myself." Magnus said and he saw him taking steps toward Jem.

Jem chuckled and he looked up at Magnus who was now only a few inches away from him. For some reason, Jem wanted to look away from his intense eyes, so he payed attention to the potion he was holding. "What's that meant to do?"

"It's meant to put out fires."

"It won't be very useful. It's a very tiny bottle."

"One drop of this and an entire forest will cease to burn." Magnus said holding the potion up.

"Will it heal the burn marks?"

"No, it does not heal. It only makes the fire die down until it is no longer there."

"And what if I burn someone? Do you have anything to heal them?"

"Of course I do." Now Magnus gently touched Jem's shoulder and Jem felt something go through him that made him shiver. _Probably magic._ He thought to himself.

"Magical and non- magical of course." Magnus said letting go of his arm abruptly.

"So how do I get rid of this magic without setting anything on fire?"

"You don't. The magic will find a way to leave your body one way or another. You can't really control the magic inside of you because it's not really yours. Think of it as a parasite that has temporarily trapped itself in your body. Except that the magic doesn't want to be trapped in your body, it wants to be released, and it will most definitely find a way out." Magnus said walking over to his cabinet of potions and he found a purplish liquid and began to mix it with the other potion that he had been holding.

"Wait, so then what is the point of keeping me here?"

"Jem, your body is burning up right now because it knows that there is something in you that it needs to get rid of. That's why you're sweating so badly. Of course, once it realizes that sweating won't work, it'll find more creative ways of releasing fluids from your body. It will _keep_ on doing this until it goes to more extremes like making you throw up blood. Hopefully, the magic will have burned it's way out of your system by then, but I need to make sure that you don't die or set the kingdom on fire in the process."

"I can't control the magic, but I can still set things on fire?"

"Think of it like this: whenever you feel overwhelmed by an emotion the parasite will also feel that emotion and it'll react to it the only way it knows how: Fire. Lots of it. The safest thing to do is to keep you away from civilization until the magic has simply left your body the good old boring way."

Jem ignored Magnus' last statement, "Is that why you're giving me the potion? So that if I do get overly emotional, the potion will automatically stop the fire."

"Oh no. The potion is a safety precaution."

"I haven't even burned anything yet." Jem said.

"The table you're leaning on seems to be on the verge of starting a fire.

"What?!" Jem turned around and found that the table had begun a small fire where he had been leaning. "Magnus, why didn't you say anything?"

"It didn't seem as if it was bothering you and the fire hadn't even started yet. I wanted to see how long it would've taken you to realize you were burning the table at all. Funny, when I touched you, it felt very hot, feverish even, but my skin did not begin to burn." Magnus stared at Jem again trying to figure out some puzzle about him, but Jem was too occupied with the fire to really notice.

"Magnus, we need that potion! Now!"

"Calm down this potion is only a safety precaution. The fire is not even close to being dangerous."

"Well we need to put the fire out somehow!" Jem said and he panicked as the magical fire seemed to only increase.

Jem looked at Magnus pleadingly, but Magnus only rolled his eyes and walked towards the fire in the desk that began to increase exponentially. Magnus sighed from annoyance and picked up a towel and simply laid it over the fire causing it to die down completely.

"There. The fire is gone. Will you please stop your whining?"

"I thought that a fire caused by magic would need- I don't know- some sort of magical way to extinguish it."

"A fire is a fire. Please Jem next time you start one do not gawk at it with fear hoping the eight- hundred year old warlock will come to your rescue."

"You're eight-hundred years old?" Jem said and was now gawking at Magnus.

"Oh nevermind. Lie down on the bed. And try your very hardest to not burn anything while you're at it."

* * *

 _Present_

"My king! I am so sorry. I did not mean to. I swear on the angel that I did not mean to. I sear on-

"It is alright my girl. It was only an accident." The king responded ending Tessa's blubbering. He took off the jacket that Tessa had spilled wine on and handed it to her, "See? It only got my coat. There is no need to worry."

"I will clean it right away my king. I will not sleep until the stain is not visible on your coat." Tessa was feeling a fear that she rarely felt. It wasn't fear for a loved one but for herself. Tessa was actually worried that the king was going to harm her- right here- in front of everyone. Of course, if the king didn't harm her, then the blonde knight- _Frederick_ \- would beat him to it.

"My dear there is no need to worry about such ridiculous things. How about you go and rest. There are other servants here tonight who will manage perfectly fine." King Herondale said taking the coat back. Tessa was surprised by his kindness, but she immediately nodded then remembered what Jasmine had said.

"Princess Jasmine wishes for me to accompany her to her bedroom in order to help her get ready for her rest." Tessa said and the king gave Jasmine a look that Tessa couldn't decipher. It was intense and filled with power and control. If King Herondale would have given Tessa that look, she might have literally, physically shrinked.

Princess Jasmine looked at Tessa apologetically before saying, "It is fine servant, I will manage on my own."

"Of course not before you and I dance my princess." King Herondale said, and he didn't have to look at her the way that he had before because Princess Jasmine nodded and allowed herself to be led away by the king.

Tessa resisted the urge to rip the king's arm from Jasmine's waist and instead turned to look at the prince and the knight who were standing before her. She slightly curtseyed before saying, "Thank you gentlemen. I shall excuse myself." she turned to walk away and she automatically froze when she felt rough hands grab her arm.

"Excuse me miss, but I do not think that you should be walking the night alone. I will join you." It was the knight- Frederick.

"Oh please Frederick. If you leave, then who will take care of finishing the bottles of wine? I can walk the servant back as I do owe her from my discretion from before." Prince William said and held out his arm for Tessa to hold.

"I assure you my prince that I have barely had any wine to drink. You do not need to worry. I will keep the girl safe." Frederick now turned to look at Tessa, and she hated that his eyes looked sincere. It only made her shiver.

Will looked at Tessa's stiff posture and at her arm that was still being held by Frederick, "Oh but I do worry. Come servant I do not offer my arm to just anyone, you know?" His words were cruel, but he smiled at her the same way he had when he saw her in his room. Tessa immediately pulled her arm away from the knight's grasp and held onto Will's arm and they both walked away from the feast.

Tessa was thankful that Will was there because she wouldn't have really known how to get back to her room. Tessa was planning on going through the kitchen which would have led her to the dining hall and from there she would go to the hallway where all the lords, nobles, and lesser royals rested, and she remembered that there was a staircase at the end of that hallway that took her to where the horse stables were, and she remembered how to get to her room from the horse stables. It would have taken her perhaps half an hour- if she didn't get lost along the way. Will had gotten her outside in less than five minutes, and she could already see the horse stables which meant that she would be in her room in only a few more minutes.

Tessa stopped walking for a moment and looked up at Will who looked confused that she had stopped walking. There walk had been silent, even though she knew that there were many words that needed to be said. She told herself to say what she needed to say. She had to apologize for the way that she had treated Will, and she had to do it now before her pride or fear took over.

"Prince William you should know-" Tessa stopped herself realizing that Will at the exact same time had said, "Tessa I am sorry for-

"My apologies Tessa, please go ahead." Now Tessa didn't want to say anything until she knew what he had been thinking, but she had to apologize.

"Will- I mean Prince William- I am sorry for yelling at you before. It was wrong of me. I was upset but not at you, exactly. I saw something horrible, and it left me feeling horrible, and I shouldn't have accused you of being selfish or whatever I had accused you of. I had no right, and it will never happen again. I understand if you do not wish to forgive me, but I do ask that you do not believe a single word that escaped my mouth. I assure you that I am not- regularly- so uneducated to be so rude to you."

"Tessa- you don't- I never thought that you were uned- there is no need for an- ahh damn it." Will looked at Tessa's pleading eyes for a moment, "I believe you." he finally said.

* * *

Tessa smiled a beautiful smile, but Will did not truly deserve it. Tessa hadn't been the only one that had said gruesome words.

"Tessa, I am also guilty of speaking horrendous words to you when you did not deserve it. I allowed my pride to control me, and I acted in a arrogant, snobbish manner. I also had no right, but you were distressed, I was simply rude and the words that I said to you were utterly wrong. I shouldn't have threatened you Tessa. I do not care how many times you yell at me, but I shouldn't have yelled at you the way I did. Is there anyway that you could ever forgive me?"

"Of course Will- I mean Prince William." he laughed at her and felt a strange surge of _deja vu._ Jem had done almost the exact same thing.

"Tessa, please, call me Will. If you call me prince, my ego will only grow. Plus when you say " _William"_ , you make me feel like an old man who yells at little children for laughing."

"How could _you_ ever feel like that? I am sure that in that scenario you're the little boy running around laughing at the idiot servant girl for dropping a glass of water." Tessa said and Will chuckled.

"Yes and Magnus can be the old man yelling at all of us. Also the servant girl wouldn't be an idiot. Actually, she would be quite intelligent and make sure that the clueless little boy was put in his place."

"Yes and the little boy will keep the girl from priding herself so highly."

"I do not even think that I am capable of such an impossible task." Will said and he wished that this would have been how their first interaction would have been like.

Tessa laughed and playfully smacked Will then she took back her arm really suddenly. Will saw the instant regret and the second apology ready to come out of her mouth, but he stopped her before the moment could ruined, "And there it is," Will said as if he spoke to an audience of people, "Tessa- the intelligent, prideful, servant girl, putting the clueless prince back in his place." Tessa smiled embarrassed, but Will was glad that she no longer looked as if she wanted to take back their entire conversation.

"We should keep walking. Sophie is probably waiting for me to come back, and knowing her, she'll come marching into the court demanding my exact location." Will nodded and began walking at a slow pace.

"Yes, Sophie is very good at getting royals to talk." Will said smirking.

"Sophie knows more gossip about the lives of the nobles and the royals than they do about themselves."

"Sophie does have a certain charm when it comes to gaining the trust of the occupants of the kingdom. Jem is the same way. He always knows exactly what to say to get people to trust him. I, on the other hand, seem to know exactly what to say to get people to _lose_ whatever trust they had in me."

"Will that isn't true. Jem isn't the only one capable to getting people to trust him." Will stopped walking this time, and he turned to look at Tessa and she looked at him smiling another beautiful smile. It reminded him of the one she had given Jem when they had been with Magnus.

"Magnus!" Will suddenly yelled out loud and Tessa's eyes widened.

"I guess Magnus also has that quality but why you are saying his name so loudly is a bit weird-

"No. Sorry, I meant that Jem is still with Magnus, and I promised him that I would have checked on him because he told me that he felt sick."

Tessa's eyes widened even more than they had before, "Right, of course you did, but are you sure that he is feeling well now. His headache seemed to be pretty bad at the time. It's possible that Magnus gave him something to sleep so that the pain wouldn't affect him so much."

"You could be right, but I have to go just to make- wait. How did you know that he had a headache? You had already left by the time I returned."

"How did I know?" Tessa said and it sounded as if she was talking to herself rather than Will, "How could I possibly know that Jem had a headache? See, you are correct that I- Tessa Gray- was not in the room at the time that Jem announced his headache. Nope I was not in the room. I also was not listening from outside because that would not make any sense. I most definitely could not have been hiding in the closet because that also would not make any sense. However- _however?_ However! However, Sophie had been in the room at the time, and she told me all about what had occured. Yes, Sophie the woman who knows everything told me because- because we're friends and we tell eachother all different kinds of things. I did not simply assume that Jem had a headache. That would have been quite ridiculous of me. No, not ridiculous, completely idiotic." Tessa said and it seemed that the last few sentences were mostly for herself than for Will. Although Will knew that she was lying or at least she took way too long to figure out her story, he found her to be more amusing than untrustworthy.

"Either way," Will said trying to hide the smile on his face, "I should still go check on him. I'll take you to your room first so that poor Sophie does not cause a stampede looking for you." Will joked, but Tessa's eyes were still filled with panic.

"How about I join you? Sophie could very possibly still be with Thomas, and I do not wish to be alone." Tessa said and she hid her eyes from Will which he did not enjoy considering how enticing they were.

"How could I possibly refuse to spend more time with someone as intelligent as you Tessa?"

"Perhaps the boy is more clueless than we think because he continues to call me intelligent. Even though in the span of a few hours, I have broken a glass of water in front of the prince, cut myself with those same glass shards, and spilled wine on the king. Tomorrow, I will have accidentally shaved off my hair and poisoned the horses."

"Do not give the girl any ideas. Something tells me that _she_ is capable of more than meets the eye."

"Oh Will, you have absolutely no idea." Tessa said and smiled at him once more before they began walking towards Magnus.

* * *

"Will, perhaps you should let me go in first. It is possible that Magnus is indecent or sleeping. I'll go in and make sure that _we_ can even go in." Tessa said hoping that Will would listen to her ridiculous excuse.

"The light is on. He is most likely awake." Will said ignoring Tessa's words completely and began to open the door.

Magnus was holding Jem's head and pouring a liquid down his throat. Jem was covered in blankets and he was shivering visibly. Will only paused for a moment before he went running to Jem's side.

"What happened to him?"

"He has a fever. He'll be alright as long as he continue to drink liquids and lot of them." Magnus said and set down the glass of liquid he had been giving him onto the table.

Tessa went to Jem's side and put her hand to his forehead and flinched at how hot it was. "Magnus is this- _normal_?" Tessa said not wanting to ask her full question: _Is it normal that Jem is burning up this badly because of the magic in his system? Or should I be worried?_

Magnus seem to understand her because he answered, "For his current condition, a fever is completely _normal_. You two should probably leave and come back tomorrow. We definitely don't need anyone else catching the fever." Magnus said and he motioned with his eyes to Will who was only looking at Jem's state in absolutely horror.

"Will, Magnus is right. We'll come back tomorrow." Tessa walked over to Will and she wanted to touch his shoulder, but she wasn't sure if he would appreciate the gesture so her hand awkwardly hovered above his shoulder. Magnus noticed this and snorted, but Will didn't even seem to have heard a word that any one of them had been saying because he stayed there staring at Jem frozen.

Tessa tried again, and she leaned closer to him whispering in his ear still not touching him, "Will, he'll be fine. Magnus knows what he is doing, but he needs to be able to work, and we'll just get in his way." Now Tessa did put her hand on his shoulder, but she didn't even notice that she did it until Will abruptly turned and flinched away from her touch. Tessa immediately dropped her hand feeling embarrassed that she even thought of doing such a thing to a prince. As if she could bring comfort to the Prince of Alicante.

Will's expression was unreadable, but he didn't ignore her this time, "Till tomorrow then." he said and walked away. Tessa smiled weakly at Magnus and sneaked one more glance at Jem before turning to follow Will.

* * *

Will has only ever seen Jem that sick when they were younger, and Jem had problems with his heart. Jem took medicine for that now, so it was not as serious as it used to be, but Will was always cautious. Always making sure that Jem was not straining himself or forcing himself to go on further than what he had to when they practiced combat. He hadn't been surprised that Tessa was the one to take him out of his negative thinking. He had been surprised that she had actually followed him even after he had rudely left. She was still trailing behind him even though he was trying to get rid of her. He had already been rude to her in the morning, and he didn't want to make that mistake again right now. With the way he was feeling, he could probably cause conflicts between kingdoms with only a few words.

"Tessa please just go back to your room." Will said hoping she would simply listen.

"I can't. I don't know how to get there." That made Will stop and look at her.

She didn't look as if she was lying or just making excuses like she had been those other times. She actually didn't know how to get from place to place in the castle. Will sighed and walked over to her until they were standing face to face. She was almost as tall as him, but she still had to slightly incline her head to look at him.

"Will, I understand that you're upset, but I would be very grateful if you would take me to my room."

"How long have you been in the castle?"

"About a month."

"And you still don't know your way around?"

"I spend most of my time in the horse stables and also this is a very big castle. I can't simply go exploring. Charlotte keeps us in a very tight leash."

"Fine, but pay attention to where we are going because you will not always have someone to be your guide."

"I will." Tessa said defensively, and Will turned away from her and began walking in a different direction than before. Tessa sighed knowing that whatever friendship she thought had been building between them was for sure never going to happen.

"Hurry up. I do not wish to wait on you." Will called out but kept walking.

 _Definitely never going to happen_. Tessa thought before saying, "I am going!" and began to run towards him.

They walked in complete silence. Tessa hated it. She wasn't going to be the one to break it this time, though. She had no reason to apologize to Will this time, and she was sure that he would not apologize for his behavior, so she distracted herself with remembering the hallways and staircases that they had taken to get to her room. They had already passed the horse stables and were already, practically there.

She thought about telling him that she was fine from here. That he didn't need to keep walking her, but she didn't want to be the first one to break the silence. She, decidedly, kept her mouth shut and focused on the darkness ahead of her. She could still see the doors to the rooms, but they were very dimly lit. She didn't even see her room until they were a few feet from it, and she stopped abruptly at her sight.

The door was open. Completely open. Sophie would never leave the door open if she had gone inside. None of the other servants had a key to her room. Unless someone didn't use a key. Now, she tensed not sure what to think. Who would want to go into a servant's room? What did she have that someone else might ever possibly want? Not even Nate would do this plus it was too late and he would be sleeping.

"What's wrong? Is that your room?"

"Tessa nodded unable to form words. Will looked at Tessa, but Tessa was waiting for someone to leave her room and give her some answer as to why the door was open right now.

"Stay behind me. I'll go in first." Tessa listened noticing that Will's hand was now at his sword.

They walked slowly to the room and Will was slowly pulling out his sword his it's sheath. When we walked in, there was a dark figure in the corner. Tessa couldn't really make out the shape until she realized that it was two figures. One was laying down- not moving- and the other was crouching over them crying. Tessa quickly grabbed a lantern and lit it using the candles that were outside. Instantly Tessa recognized both figures in her room. One was Sophie: she was the one crying over the other figure. She was covered in blood, and her clothes was ripped and she looked slightly injured from her shoulder, but she didn't seem to care about that or that someone else was now in the room with her. She stayed with her hands holding the body of the man who Sophie loved more than anyone. The body of a man who had only been kind to Tessa since the moment she met him. Who Tessa never saw utter a negative word about anyone. The man who did not deserve to die this way. It was Sophie's fiance. Thomas.

 **AN: Please leave me comments: NEGATIVE or POSITIVE. Both will really help. Like I said before, I will update more frequently. Thank you for reading 3**


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